youtube-dl

youtube-dl is an open-source download manager for video and audio content from YouTube[1] and over 1000 other video hosting websites.[2] It is released under the Unlicense software license.[3]

youtube-dl
youtube-dl being used to download Big Buck Bunny from YouTube
Original author(s)Ricardo García Gonzalez
Initial releaseAugust 8, 2006 (2006-08-08)
Stable release
v2021.01.16 / (January 16, 2021 (2021-01-16))
Repositorygithub.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl
Written inPython
Operating systemWindows, macOS, Linux
PlatformCross-platform
TypeStream recorder
LicenseUnlicense
Websiteyoutube-dl.org

As of January 2020, youtube-dl is one of the most starred projects on GitHub, with over 88,200 stars.[4] According to libraries.io, 84 other packages and 1.43k repositories depend on it.[5]

History

youtube-dl was created in 2006 by Ricardo Garcia.[6] Initially, only YouTube was supported, but as the project grew, it began supporting other video sharing websites.[7] Ricardo Garcia stepped down as maintainer in 2011 and was replaced with phihag, who later stepped down and was replaced with dstftw.[8]

RIAA takedown request

On October 23, 2020, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) issued a takedown notice to GitHub under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), requesting the removal of youtube-dl and 17 public forks of the project. The RIAA request argued that youtube-dl violates the Section 1201 anti-circumvention provisions of the DMCA, and provisions of German copyright law, since it circumvents a "rolling cipher" used by YouTube to generate the URL for the video file itself (which the RIAA has considered to be an effective technical protection measure, since it is "intended to inhibit direct access to the underlying YouTube video files, thereby preventing or inhibiting the downloading, copying, or distribution of the video files"),[9][10][11] and that its documentation expressly encouraged its use with copyrighted media by listing music videos by RIAA-represented artists as examples. GitHub complied with the request.[12][13][14]

Users criticized the takedown, noting the legitimate uses for the application, including downloading video content released under open licensing schemes or to create derivative works falling under fair use (such as for archival and news reporting purposes).[15][4][16] Public attention to the take-down resulted in Streisand effect reminiscent to that of DeCSS take-down. Users reposted the software's source code across the internet in multiple formats. Twitter users posted images on Twitter containing the whole youtube-dl source code encoded in different colors.[17] GitHub users also filed pull requests to GitHub's own repository of DMCA takedown notices that included youtube-dl source code.[17][18]

On November 16, 2020, GitHub publicly reinstated the repository, after the Electronic Frontier Foundation sent GitHub a document contesting the takedown notice, which clarified that the software was not capable of breaching commercial DRM systems. GitHub also announced that future takedown claims under Section 1201 would be manually scrutinized on a case-by-case basis by legal and technical experts.[19][20]

See also

References
  1. "Debian -- Details of package youtube-dl in sid". packages.debian.org. Archived from the original on 2020-10-27. Retrieved 2020-10-24.
  2. "Supported sites". youtube-dl's GitHub Pages site. Retrieved 30 December 2020.
  3. "Unlicense". Unlicense.org. Retrieved 2020-11-17.
  4. Cimpanu, Catalin. "RIAA blitz takes down 18 GitHub projects used for downloading YouTube videos". ZDNet. Archived from the original on 2020-10-24. Retrieved 2020-10-24.
  5. "youtube_dl on Pypi". Libraries.io. Archived from the original on 2020-10-23. Retrieved 2020-10-24.
  6. Garcia, Ricardo (August 8, 2006). "Release 2006.08.08". Internet Archive Wayback Machine. Retrieved 14 November 2020.
  7. "Supported sites". youtube-dl. GitHub. 2019. Archived from the original on May 9, 2019. Retrieved April 20, 2019.
  8. Garcia, Ricardo. "It's very nice to see a project I started reach the front page of HN". Hacker News. Archived from the original on 29 October 2020. Retrieved 25 October 2020.
  9. Plaugic, Lizzie (2016-09-27). "Record labels sue popular YouTube audio-ripping site". The Verge. Archived from the original on 2020-02-25. Retrieved 2020-02-25.
  10. Masnick, Mike. "Can Someone Explain To The RIAA That SOPA Didn't Actually Pass?". Techdirt. Archived from the original on 2020-02-25. Retrieved 2020-02-25.
  11. "RIAA Delists YouTube Rippers From Google Using Rare Anti-Circumvention Notices". TorrentFreak. 2019-11-09. Archived from the original on 2020-03-29. Retrieved 2020-02-25.
  12. "dmca/2020-10-23-RIAA.md at master · github/dmca". GitHub. 2020-10-23. Archived from the original on 2020-10-23. Retrieved 2020-10-23.
  13. Cimpanu, Catalin. "RIAA blitz takes down 18 GitHub projects used for downloading YouTube videos". ZDNet. Archived from the original on 2020-10-24. Retrieved 2020-10-24.
  14. Cushing, Tim (2020-10-26). "RIAA Tosses Bogus Claim At Github To Get Video Downloading Software Removed". Techdirt. Archived from the original on 2020-10-27. Retrieved 2020-10-27.
  15. Cox, Kate (2020-10-26). "GitHub boots popular YouTube download tool after RIAA claim". Ars Technica. Archived from the original on 2020-10-26. Retrieved 2020-10-27.
  16. Higgins, Parker (2020-10-26). "Music industry forces widely used journalist tool offline". Freedom of the Press Foundation. Retrieved 2020-11-08.
  17. "RIAA's YouTube-DL Takedown Ticks Off Developers and GitHub's CEO". Torrentfreak. Archived from the original on 28 October 2020. Retrieved 28 October 2020.
  18. Mehta, Ivan (2020-10-27). "GitHub took down popular YouTube downloader — so devs made more copies". The Next Web. Retrieved 2020-11-08.
  19. Vollmer, Abby (November 16, 2020). "Standing up for developers: youtube-dl is back". The GitHub Blog. GitHub, Inc. Archived from the original on November 16, 2020. Retrieved November 16, 2020.
  20. "GitHub revamps copyright takedown policy after restoring YouTube-dl". Engadget. Retrieved 2020-11-21.
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